Label-free optical detection of bioelectric potentials using electrochromic thin films.

Understanding how a network of interconnected neurons receives, stores, and processes information in the human brain is one of the outstanding scientific challenges of our time. The ability to reliably detect neuroelectric activities is essential to addressing this challenge. Optical recording using voltage-sensitive fluorescent probes has provided unprecedented flexibility for choosing regions of interest in recording neuronal activities. However, when recording at a high frame rate such as 500 to 1,000 Hz, fluorescence-based voltage sensors often suffer from photobleaching and phototoxicity, which limit the recording duration. Here, we report an approach called electrochromic optical recording (ECORE) that achieves label-free optical recording of spontaneous neuroelectrical activities. ECORE utilizes the electrochromism of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) thin films, whose optical absorption can be modulated by an applied voltage. Being based on optical reflection instead of fluorescence, ECORE offers the flexibility of an optical probe without suffering from photobleaching or phototoxicity. Using ECORE, we optically recorded spontaneous action potentials in cardiomyocytes, cultured hippocampal and dorsal root ganglion neurons, and brain slices. With minimal perturbation to cells, ECORE allows long-term optical recording over multiple days.

Label-Free Digital Detection of Intact Virions by Enhanced Scattering Microscopy.

Several applications in health diagnostics, food, safety, and environmental monitoring require rapid, simple, selective, and quantitatively accurate viral load monitoring. Here, we introduce the first label-free biosensing method that rapidly detects and quantifies intact virus in human saliva with single-virion resolution. Using pseudotype SARS-CoV-2 as a representative target, we immobilize aptamers with the ability to differentiate active from inactive virions on a photonic crystal, where the virions are captured through affinity with the spike protein displayed on the outer surface. Once captured, the intrinsic scattering of the virions is amplified and detected through interferometric imaging. Our approach analyzes the motion trajectory of each captured virion, enabling highly selective recognition against nontarget virions, while providing a limit of detection of 1 × 103 copies/mL at room temperature. The approach offers an alternative to enzymatic amplification assays for point-of-collection diagnostics.

Anisotropic Optical Shock Waves in Isotropic Media with Giant Nonlocal Nonlinearity.

Dispersive shock waves in thermal optical media are nonlinear phenomena whose intrinsic irreversibility is described by time asymmetric quantum mechanics. Recent studies demonstrated that the nonlocal wave breaking evolves in an exponentially decaying dynamics ruled by the reversed harmonic oscillator, namely, the simplest irreversible quantum system in the rigged Hilbert spaces. The generalization of this theory to more complex scenarios is still an open question. In this work, we use a thermal third-order medium with an unprecedented giant Kerr coefficient, the m-cresol/nylon mixed solution, to access an extremely nonlinear, highly nonlocal regime and realize anisotropic shock waves with internal gaps. We compare our experimental observations to results obtained under similar conditions but in hemoglobin solutions from human red blood cells, and found that the gap formation strongly depends on the nonlinearity strength. We prove that a superposition of Gamow vectors in an ad hoc rigged Hilbert space, that is, a tensorial product between the reversed and the standard harmonic oscillators spaces, describes the beam propagation beyond the shock point. The anisotropy turns out from the interaction of trapping and antitrapping potentials. Our work furnishes the description of novel intriguing shock phenomena mediated by extreme nonlinearities.

Recent Advances in The Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal Composite and Its Applications.

Polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) have kindled a spark of interest because of their unique characteristic of electrically controlled switching. However, some issues including high operating voltage, low contrast ratio and poor mechanical properties are hindering their practical applications. To overcome these drawbacks, some measures were taken such as molecular structure optimization of the monomers and liquid crystals, modification of PDLC and doping of nanoparticles and dyes. This review aims at detailing the recent advances in the process, preparations and applications of PDLCs over the past six years.

Soft and Stretchable Polymeric Optical Waveguide-Based Sensors for Wearable and Biomedical Applications.

The past decades have witnessed the rapid development in soft, stretchable, and biocompatible devices for applications in biomedical monitoring, personal healthcare, and human-machine interfaces. In particular, the design of soft devices in optics has attracted tremendous interests attributed to their distinct advantages such as inherent electrical safety, high stability in long-term operation, potential to be miniaturized, and free of electromagnetic interferences. As the alternatives to conventional rigid optical waveguides, considerable efforts have been made to develop light-guiding devices by using various transparent and elastic polymers, which offer desired physiomechanical properties and enable wearable/implantable applications in optical sensing, diagnostics, and therapy. Here, we review recent progress in soft and stretchable optical waveguides and sensors, including advanced structural design, fabrication strategies, and functionalities. Furthermore, the potential applications of those optical devices for various wearable and biomedical applications are discussed. It is expected that the newly emerged soft and stretchable optical technologies will provide a safe and reliable alternative to next-generation, smart wearables and healthcare devices.

Focus-tunable liquid lens with an aspherical membrane for improved central and peripheral resolutions at high diopters.

Liquid lens offers a simple solution to achieve tunable optical powers. This approach, however, suffers from deteriorated resolution at high diopters. In this study, a plano-convex liquid lens with aspherical cross-section is developed. Such configuration allows for the lens profiles at high diopters to be close to spherical shapes by alleviating the edge-clamping effects. Resolution tests of a 6mm lens with optimized asphericity exhibit improved resolutions in both center and peripheral regions at 40 and 100 diopters than the lenses with planar membranes. It shows that aspherical membranes can improve the resolving power of liquid lenses at high diopters, thus providing a new route of optimizing the imaging performance of adaptive liquid lenses for various applications.

Morphological appearances and photo-controllable coloration of dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystal/polymer coaxial microfibers fabricated by coaxial electrospinning technique.

This study systematically investigates the morphological appearance of azo-chiral dye-doped cholesteric liquid crystal (DDCLC)/polymer coaxial microfibers obtained through the coaxial electrospinning technique and examines, for the first time, their photocontrollable reflection characteristics. Experimental results show that the quasi-continuous electrospun microfibers can be successfully fabricated at a high polymer concentration of 17.5 wt% and an optimum ratio of 2 for the feeding rates of sheath to core materials at 25 °C and a high humidity of 50% ± 2% in the spinning chamber. Furthermore, the optical controllability of the reflective features for the electrospun fibers is studied in detail by changing the concentration of the azo-chiral dopant in the core material, the UV irradiation intensity, and the core diameter of the fibers. Relevant mechanisms are addressed to explain the optical-control behaviors of the DDCLC coaxial fibers. Considering the results, optically controllable DDCLC coaxial microfibers present potential applications in UV microsensors and wearable smart textiles or swabs.

Polishing mechanism of light-initiated dental composite: Geometric optics approach.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: For light-initiated dental hybrid composites, reinforcing particles are much stiffer than the matrix, which makes the surface rugged after inadequate polish and favors bacterial adhesion and biofilm redevelopment. The aim of the study was to investigate the polishing mechanism via the geometric optics approach. METHODS: We defined the polishing abilities of six instruments using the obtained gloss values through the geometric optics approach (micro-Tri-gloss with 20°, 60°, and 85° measurement angles). The surface texture was validated using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Based on the gloss values, we sorted polishing tools into three abrasive levels, and proposed polishing sequences to test the hypothesis that similar abrasive levels would leave equivalent gloss levels on dental composites. RESULTS: The three proposed, tested polishing sequences included: S1, Sof-Lex XT coarse disc, Sof-Lex XT fine disc, and OccluBrush; S2, Sof-Lex XT coarse disc, Prisma Gloss polishing paste, and OccluBrush; and S3, Sof-Lex XT coarse disc, Enhance finishing cups, and OccluBrush. S1 demonstrated significantly higher surface gloss than the other procedures (p < 0.05). The surface textures (FE-SEM micrographs) correlated well with the obtained gloss values. CONCLUSION: Nominally similar abrasive abilities did not result in equivalent polish levels, indicating that the polishing tools must be evaluated and cannot be judged based on their compositions or abrasive sizes. The geometric optic approach is an efficient and nondestructive method to characterize the polished surface of dental composites.

Engineering responsive polymer building blocks with host-guest molecular recognition for functional applications.

CONSPECTUS: All living organisms and soft matter are intrinsically responsive and adaptive to external stimuli. Inspired by this fact, tremendous effort aiming to emulate subtle responsive features exhibited by nature has spurred the invention of a diverse range of responsive polymeric materials. Conventional stimuli-responsive polymers are constructed via covalent bonds and can undergo reversible or irreversible changes in chemical structures, physicochemical properties, or both in response to a variety of external stimuli. They have been imparted with a variety of emerging applications including drug and gene delivery, optical sensing and imaging, diagnostics and therapies, smart coatings and textiles, and tissue engineering. On the other hand, in comparison with molecular chemistry held by covalent bonds, supramolecular chemistry built on weak and reversible noncovalent interactions has emerged as a powerful and versatile strategy for materials fabrication due to its facile accessibility, extraordinary reversibility and adaptivity, and potent applications in diverse fields. Typically involving more than one type of noncovalent interactions (e.g., hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic association, electrostatic interactions, van der Waals forces, and π-π stacking), host-guest recognition refers to the formation of supramolecular inclusion complexes between two or more entities connected together in a highly controlled and cooperative manner. The inherently reversible and adaptive nature of host-guest molecular recognition chemistry, stemming from multiple noncovalent interactions, has opened up a new platform to construct novel types of stimuli-responsive materials. The introduction of host-guest chemistry not only enriches the realm of responsive materials but also confers them with promising new applications. Most intriguingly, the integration of responsive polymer building blocks with host-guest recognition motifs will endow the former with further broadened responsiveness to external stimuli and accordingly more sophisticated functions. In this Account, we summarize recent progress in the field of responsive polymeric materials containing host-guest recognition motifs with selected examples and highlight their versatile functional applications, whereas small molecule-oriented host-guest supramolecular systems are excluded. We demonstrate how the introduction of host-guest chemistry into conventional polymer systems can modulate their responsive modes to external stimuli. Moreover, the responsive specificity and selectivity of polymeric systems can also be inherited from the host-guest recognition motifs, and these features provide extra advantages in terms of function integration. The following discussions are categorized in terms of design and functions, namely, host-guest chemistry toward the fabrication of responsive polymers and assemblies, optical sensing and imaging, drug and gene delivery, and self-healing materials. A concluding remark on future developments is also presented. We wish this prosperous field would incur more original and evolutionary ideas and benefit fundamental research and our daily life in a more convenient way.

Responsive Polymer-Based Assemblies for Sensing Applications.

Poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm)-based hydrogels and hydrogel particles (microgels) have been extensively studied since their discovery and "popularization" a few decades ago. While their uses seem to have no bounds, this Feature Article is focused on their development and application for sensing small molecules, macromolecules, and biomolecules. Hydrogel/microgel-based photonic materials with order in one, two, or three dimensions are highlighted, which exhibit optical properties that depend on the presence and concentration of various analytes.

Self-cleaning antireflective optical coatings.

Low-cost antireflection coatings (ARCs) on large optical surfaces are an ingredient-technology for high-performance solar cells. While nanoporous thin films that meet the zero-reflectance conditions on transparent substrates can be cheaply manufactured, their suitability for outdoor applications is limited by the lack of robustness and cleanability. Here, we present a simple method for the manufacture of robust self-cleaning ARCs. Our strategy relies on the self-assembly of a block-copolymer in combination with silica-based sol-gel chemistry and preformed TiO2 nanocrystals. The spontaneous dense packing of copolymer micelles followed by a condensation reaction results in an inverse opal-type silica morphology that is loaded with TiO2 photocatalytic hot-spots. The very low volume fraction of the inorganic network allows the optimization of the antireflecting properties of the porous ARC despite the high refractive index of the embedded photocatalytic TiO2 nanocrystals. The resulting ARCs combine high optical and self-cleaning performance and can be deposited onto flexible plastic substrates.

Optical properties and sub-bandgap formation of nano-crystalline Si quantum dots embedded ZnO thin film.

In this study, we fabricate ZnO thin films with nano-crystalline Si (nc-Si) quantum dots (QDs) using a ZnO/Si multilayer deposition structure and a post-annealing process, and the formation of high crystallinity of Si QDs embedded in the crystalline ZnO matrix is demonstrated. For optical properties, the essential features of ZnO material, high transmission in long-wavelength and high absorption in short-wavelength ranges, are preserved. We observe significantly enhanced light absorption and an unusual photoluminescence emission peak contributed from the nc-Si QDs in the middle-wavelength range. In addition, we confirm the formation of optical sub-bandgap and the obtained value is quite close to the unusual PL emission peak. We show that meaningful sub-bandgap can form in ZnO thin film by embedding nc-Si QDs while maintaining the advantageous properties of ZnO matrix. This newly developed composite material, nc-Si QD embedded ZnO thin films, can be useful for various electro-optical applications.

Looking through the mirror: optical microcavity-mirror image photonic interaction.

Although science fiction literature and art portray extraordinary stories of people interacting with their images behind a mirror, we know that they are not real and belong to the realm of fantasy. However, it is well known that charges or magnets near a good electrical conductor experience real attractive or repulsive forces, respectively, originating in the interaction with their images. Here, we show strong interaction between an optical microcavity and its image under external illumination. Specifically, we use silicon nanospheres whose high refractive index makes well-defined optical resonances feasible. The strong interaction produces attractive and repulsive forces depending on incident wavelength, cavity-metal separation and resonance mode symmetry. These intense repulsive photonic forces warrant a new kind of optical levitation that allows us to accurately manipulate small particles, with important consequences for microscopy, optical sensing and control of light by light at the nanoscale.

Efficient photo-thermal activation of gold nanoparticle-doped polymer plasmonic switches.

We report on the photo-thermal activation of dielectric loaded plasmonic switches comprised of gold nanoparticle-doped polymer deposited onto a gold film. The plasmonic switches rely on a multi-mode interferometer design and are fabricated by electron beam lithography applied to a positive resin doped with gold nanoparticles at a volume ratio of 0.52%. A cross-bar switching is obtained at telecom wavelengths by pumping the devices with a visible beam having a frequency within the localized surface plasmon resonance band of the embedded nanoparticles. By comparing the switching performances of doped and undoped devices, we show that for the modest doping level we consider, the power needed to activate the doped switches is reduced by a factor 2.5 compared to undoped devices. The minimization of activation power is attributed to enhanced light-heat conversion and optimized spatial heat generation for doped devices and not to a change of the thermo-optic coefficient of the doped polymer.

Imaging slit-coupled surface plasmon polaritons using conventional optical microscopy.

We develop a technique that now enables surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) coupled by nano-patterned slits in a metal film to be detected using conventional optical microscopy with standard objective lenses. The crux of this method is an ultra-thin polymer layer on the metal surface, whose thickness can be varied over a nanoscale range to enable controllable tuning of the SPP momentum. At an optimal layer thickness for which the SPP momentum matches the momentum of light emerging from the slit, the SPP coupling efficiency is enhanced about six times relative to that without the layer. The enhanced efficiency results in distinctive and bright plasmonic signatures near the slit visible by naked eye under an optical microscope. We demonstrate how this capability can be used for parallel measurement through a simple experiment in which the SPP propagation distance is extracted from a single microscope image of an illuminated array of nano-patterned slits on a metal surface. We also use optical microscopy to image the focal region of a plasmonic lens and obtain results consistent with a previously-reported results using near-field optical microscopy. Measurement of SPPs near a nano-slit using conventional and widely-available optical microscopy is an important step towards making nano-plasmonic device technology highly accessible and easy-to-use.

Nanophotonic control of the Förster resonance energy transfer efficiency.

We have studied the influence of the local density of optical states (LDOS) on the rate and efficiency of Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from a donor to an acceptor. The donors and acceptors are dye molecules that are separated by a short strand of double-stranded DNA. The LDOS is controlled by carefully positioning the FRET pairs near a mirror. We find that the energy transfer efficiency changes with LDOS, and that, in agreement with theory, the energy transfer rate is independent of the LDOS, which allows one to quantitatively control FRET systems in a new way. Our results imply a change in the characteristic Förster distance, in contrast to common lore that this distance is fixed for a given FRET pair.

Ultrathin hydrogel films for rapid optical biosensing.

Novel biosensors have been designed by reporting an analyte-induced (de)swelling of a stimuli-responsive hydrogel (usually in a form of thin film) with a suitable optical transducer. These simple, inexpensive hydrogel biosensors are highly desirable, however, their practical applications have been hindered, largely because of their slow response. Here we show that quick response hydrogel sensors can be designed from ultrathin hydrogel films. By the adoption of layer-by-layer assembly, a simple but versatile approach, glucose-sensitive hydrogel films with thickness on submicrometer or micrometer scale, which is 2 orders of magnitude thinner than films used in ordinary hydrogel sensors, can be facilely fabricated. The hydrogel films can not only respond to the variation in glucose concentration, but also report the event via the shift of Fabry-Perot fringes using the thin film itself as Fabry-Perot cavity. The response is linear and reversible. More importantly, the response is quite fast, making it possible to be used for continuous glucose monitoring.

Optical aspect of deformation analysis in the bone-denture complex.

The aim of this study was to register and measure any deformation of mandible models under load. The method for full field measurement of strain is done by using the ARAMIS three-dimensional image correlation system. The system uses two digital cameras that provide a synchronized stereo view of the specimen and the results show the complete strain field during the tests. The biggest deformation values were just under the working force of the biggest intensity 500 N, and for the region of the lower second premolar the deformation is 625 microm. The following study is presented that highlight the use of stereometric measuring system for modern research. It is shown that this measuring methodology can capture the trends of the experiments.

Electro-optic polymer spatial light modulator based on a Fabry-Perot interferometer configuration.

A spatial light modulator (SLM) based on a Fabry-Perot interferometer configuration has been fabricated and tested. The Fabry-Perot spacer layer is a thin film of the SEO100 electro-optic polymer which serves as the nonlinear medium. Measurement results demonstrate the modulation of multiple pixels operating simultaneously at frequencies ranging from 300 kHz to 800 kHz which is significantly faster than SLMs based on liquid crystal and digital micromirror device technology. An average modulation contrast of 50% for all pixels is achieved with a drive voltage of 70 V(rms) at 100 kHz. Microwave speeds and CMOS compatibility are feasible with improved transmission line and cavity design.

Experimental confirmation at visible light wavelengths of the backscattering enhancement phenomenon of the photonic nanojet.

We report what we believe is the first experimental confirmation at visible light wavelengths of the backscattering enhancement phenomenon of the photonic nanojet. A specially designed sample stage consisting of a multilayered sandwich of glass, solid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and liquid PDMS, permitted the precise positioning of a gold nanoparticle of diameter between 50 and 100 nm within the nanojet emitted by a 4.4 µm diameter BaTiO(3) microsphere embedded within the PDMS. We determined that, when the gold nanoparticle is optimally positioned within the nanojet, the backscattering of the microsphere can greatly increase: for example, by 3:1 (200%) for the 50 nm gold nanoparticle. The increased backscattering is strongly dependent upon the illumination wavelength and the numerical aperture of the imaging system, and occurs for nonresonant illuminations of the isolated microsphere. Low objective numerical apertures of approximately 0.075 yield the maximum observed increases in backscattering. The measured data agree well with numerical calculations incorporating Mie-based theory and Fourier optics.